1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bird feeders and relates more particularly to the type of bird feeder which comprises a housing with a hopper carried by the housing for receipt of bird food, and support for the bird feeder such as a post or a hanger for attaching the housing to a support for the bird feeder, such as a hook, a tree limb, or the like. Commonly, the hopper for bird feeders of this type comprise a cylindrical or conical transparent plastic tube with a multiplicity of feed ports or openings intermediate the top and bottom portions of the tube. In some such bird feeders, the housing includes a wire cage surrounding the hopper to minimize access to the feed port by squirrels and other small animals.
Another common form of commercially available bird feeders are “gazebo-style” bird feeders which, like an ordinary gazebo, have a floor, a plurality of vertical supports and an overhanging roof with the bird seed reservoir carried by the floor beneath the roof. Usually, the roof may include an opening with a removable cap enabling the reservoir to be refilled from above. A wire loop or the like may be attached to the housing for supporting the bird feeder in use, or the floor may be simply mounted on a post secured in the ground.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commercially available gazebo-style and other bird feeders currently on the market have several disadvantages. First, access to the bird seed hopper or reservoir through an opening in the roof is often difficult, particularly if an attempt is made to fill the hopper without removing the bird feeder from its support or if the bird feeder is mounted at a level above the user's sight. Often, a funnel or other such implement is necessary to facilitate filling the reservoir without spilling large amounts of seed during the filling process.
Additionally, providing sources of different types of bird seed to attract a variety of birds usually requires the use of multiple bird feeders. Compartmented reservoirs or hoppers are available in some bird feeder products, but filling the individual compartments with different types of bird seed is particularly tedious.
Another problem associated with bird feeders currently available is associated with cleaning of the reservoirs. Over time, the bird food in the hopper may tend to cake or spoil from environmental moisture and heat, fouling the hopper, precluding free flow of bird seed through the access or feed apertures and necessitating the removal of the reservoir from the housing. This process is especially difficult in gazebo-style bird feeders since the roof may be fixedly attached to the floor or base via the vertical posts by glue or screws. In such circumstances, removing the reservoir or hopper from the housing for cleaning and replacing the same may be impossible or, at best, is difficult and time consuming and, in some instances, requires extraneous tools such as screw drivers or the like.